[wplug] Linux Setup

[Vance Kochenderfer]

You may also want to look at <http://tuxmobil.org/> which also has
reports of people's experiences installing Linux on various laptop
models.

The following areas are the most troublesome in general for laptops:

 - 3D graphics.  If 3D acceleration doesn't work, you should have
   no trouble getting started with the generic vesa driver.  Then
   you can work your way up to getting 3D.

 - Wireless networking.  The situation still isn't great for
   native drivers, but ndiswrapper seems to cover most of the
   chipsets out there.

 - Modems.  Since laptops seem to universally contain "winmodems"
   (a.k.a. controllerless modems), you'll need a driver to get it
   working.  If your chosen distro doesn't do this automatically,
   try <http://linmodems.org/>.  Of course, many people simply
   ignore their modems these days.

 - Suspend/resume.  I can't give you much guidance on this one, as
   it's not really important to me.  Support in the kernel and
   distributions seems to be improving rapidly.

Fortunately, you can do "real work" without all of these being
functional.  If you're unable to make it to a WPLUG installfest,
you can ask questions here or on the IRC channel.

Vance Kochenderfer        |  "Get me out of these ropes and into a
vkochend at nyx.net          |   good belt of Scotch"    -Nick Danger